Justine Sacco Tweeted, "Going to Africa...hope i don't get AIDS! Just kidding. I'm white."
The tweet went viral and Sacco was fired from her job at IAC, an internet media firm that represents clients like Match.com and The Daily Beast.
The offending tweet was deleted, then her entire account.
Sacco apologized and told ABC News news she was ashamed for joking about the aids epidemic.
"Words cannot express how sorry I am, and how necessary it is for me to apologize to the people of South Africa, who I have offended due to a needless and careless tweet," Sacco said. "There is an AIDS crisis taking place in this country, that we read about in America, but do not live with or face on a continuous basis. Unfortunately, it is terribly easy to be cavalier about an epidemic that one has never witnessed firsthand.
Read the rest of the apology on ABCNews.com.
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